Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Mary Kay Microdermabrasion Set

I ordered the Microdermabrasion set from Theresa and have to say, it’s THE best skin care product I’ve ever used. I love the way it makes my skin feel. I’ve never had beautiful skin – it’s clear (as in no breakouts), but ruddy and "muddled" (don’t know a better way to describe it), but after using the Microdermabrasion just once, I can already see a difference. My skin has a childlike glow and I’m very much looking forward to seeing what continual use will bring (you can only use it twice a week, but I wish I could use it every day).

Monday, December 19, 2005

Heartbroken and Confused

I started writing an update about my dress, fitness, etc., but then found out about Julie Whitt’s passing and my petty little ramblings just don’t matter right now. My heart is completely broken. I can’t fathom the pain her husband and family are feeling. I don’t understand how someone with so much vibrant life in her could not make it through this surgery. I wanted her to dance and run red rocks and do all the other things she wasn’t able to do because of her illness. Why didn't she survive? She did everything right... why would it be God's will for her to leave this earth when so many people love her and need her?

Rest in peace, beautiful Julie. You were an angel on earth and you’ll be an angel in heaven. Thank you for inspiring me to Get My Freak On at the gym. Thank you for inspiring me to appreciate the little things in life and not to take my health for granted. Thank you for being such an incredibly beautiful, humble, giving and spunky woman.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Results of BFL Challenge #1

Here are the results of my first BFL challenge ending last week:

Week 1 Measurements:
Weight: 140 lbs.
Body fat: 29%
Neck: 13
Bicep: 10
Forearm: 9
Chest: 30
Hips: 40.25
Waist: 28
Thigh: 23.5
Calf: 14.5

Week 12 Measurements:
Weight: 135 lbs.
Body fat: 24%
Neck: 12
Bicep: 10
Forearm: 8.75
Chest: 30
Hips: 38.5
Waist: 25.5
Thigh: 22
Calf: 13.5

Scale Loss: 5 lbs.
Body fat loss: 8.2 lbs.
Muscle gain: 3.2 lbs.
Inches lost: 8”

Not spectacular, but I feel so much better about myself and I’m really looking forward to kicking some booty in my next challenge which I’ll start upon my return from Malaysia. This summer I’m going to be smokin’ HOT, damnit! I won’t have a chance to update photos until I get back in January. I’ll take them now, but won’t be able to post them.

Haven’t had a chance to pick out the dress yet. The shop closes at 6pm and I’ve been working pretty late. Hopefully I’ll have time tomorrow afternoon after our company Christmas lunch. Otherwise I’ll have to wait till Saturday, but that doesn’t leave much time for necessary alterations. The dress choice may end up being made for me, because the shop only stocks one of each dress and if someone bought one of the dresses I loved, I’m outta luck. I love the way the dress in the first photo looks in the photograph, but I’m a little hesitant with that one as I’m afraid it might accentuate my hip area. Same thing with the dress in the second photo, which I didn't love as much until I found out it was the most expensive - then all of a sudden I loved it? What's with me? Also, there are a couple of dresses that weren't on the Demetrios website because they're from the 2006 collection, which hasn't been officially released yet? Maybe the shop owner is feeding me a line of crap - I'm oh so gullible. Anyway, they weren't on the website and thus I couldn't find photos to show you all. Ramble, ramble, ramble. I'm like a chicken with my head chopped off. BBBBWWWAAAACCCCKKKKKK!! (Suzanne taught me how to spell that!) I’ll let ya’ll know what happens.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Ramblings of a Mad Woman

I think I have time for a quick update. Workouts have been GREAT and eating was PERFECT. Until I caved in and ate several chocolate covered Ritz crackers yesterday. I’m not beating myself up, though. I finished my BFL challenge #1 as of Sunday and I’m down several inches (I think my waist is about 25 1/2” now – yay!) but haven’t lost much scale weight. Also, my hips and thighs haven’t gone down much either and I don’t understand that… funny thing is, my feet seem thinner and better looking. Why couldn’t I lose weight in my feet LAST???? Why is the hips, thighs, ass the last to go for me??? I'll have to hurry and retake measurements and update my tracker profile soon. My Myotape broke and the other tape measure doesn't give me the same readings as the Myotape for some reason. I wonder which one is more accurate. How could one be more accurate than the other??? I've always been suspicious that my Myotape made my measurements smaller than they actually are.

I’ll start challenge 2 when I get back from Malaysia, but I will remain on track while I’m there. Eating is going to be the biggest problem. We’re staying with family and they have a cook (domestic help is very, very, very cheap there. They hire Indonesian immigrants for like $120 a month – it’s crazy!). So finding things BFL approved will be my biggest challenge. Besides, I don’t like to be “difficult” with family. At restaurants I don’t care, but with family I like to be as easy going as possible… If I can just maintain while there I’ll be happy, but I will be working out so maybe I’ll make progress. I’m rambling aren’t I? My brain is so full of nervous energy right now… so busy with work and so much on my mind to get ready for this trip…

I’ve been frantically trying to find a dress for the wedding reception. It’s a black tie event and I don’t know if I should get a simple wedding gown or a just formal evening gown. I went to a bridal shop and tried on several dresses. I LOVED THEM ALL. Wedding dresses are amazing! The designers really know how to make them so every curve is accentuated perfectly. My waist looked so small! Unless the mirrors were those “special” tricky mirrors that look great so you buy whatever you tried on. I haven’t had any luck finding a formal evening gown so I’m probably going to go with the wedding dress.

We’re taking our laptop to Malaysia with us so I’ll be able to blog from there - and more importantly keep up with all my blends’ lives. =)

That’s all I have time for now. I’ve been reading all your blogs and don’t always comment but try to when I get time.

XOXOXO, Rachel

Here are some of the dresses I have to choose from. I loved them all so now it's decision time... yikes.










Friday, December 02, 2005

C1W11D5

Things are starting to get busy here at work. Thank goodness – I was getting bored out of my gourd. Unfortunately, I’m leaving for a four-week vacation to Malaysia on December 23rd so there’s lots I need to do to get things lined out while I’m away from the office. OMGosh, I have so much I have to do personally to get ready for this trip too. How in the world did it become December already?

I’m officially 10 days late today. I’m pretty sure it’s stress related (please God). Today I finally took care of something HUGE (family related) that relieved a lot of stress and I’m hoping that spurs things on with TOM. I think I’m probably the world’s worst procrastinator when it comes to having to deal with something potentially emotionally difficult. I just hate confrontation so much that I end up putting things off and off and off and then my mind starts going out of control and when I finally bite the bullet and do what I have to do, I feel so much better and things are never as bad as my mind forecasts… I infuriate myself sometimes. Stoooooooooooooopid.

This morning was LB and abs day, but I can’t post details because I don’t have my journal with me. Next week I plan on stepping up my LB workouts and try some squats on the smith machine. I’d like to try those for my primary quad exercise because I HATE the leg press. I feel something funny in my hip joint when I do leg presses and it’s not fun. I can tell you that instead of doing dreaded db lunges today, I took the easy way out and did leg curls – this was before I took care of my stress inducing situation and I was just too frazzled to concentrate on lunges. Next week lunges are back in the routine for sure though. Today's meals will be very similar to yesterdays so I won't bother writing them out.

My dog is sitting in my lap right now and he is so stinky. What's up with that? He usually smells nice and clean. My boss gives him like 20 treats a day (I’m not kidding – he has 3 or 4 bags of jerky treats in his desk at all times and spoils little Max rotten). I think all the treats are making him smell bad. I’ve asked my boss to please limit the amount of treats he gives him, but it goes in one ear and out the other. Max is his “God son” and he spoils him rotten (literally cause that's what he smells like: rotten). It’s funny how much he adores and dotes over Max, but the excessive number of treats really does concern me. My sister is a veternarian and she’s always telling me horror stories about people who literally kill their animals with kindness (i.e. food).

Here are a few photos of my handsome Max (aka Maximus, Maxwell, Maximillion, Wiggles, Wigglesworth, Monkey, Tweet Tweet, Sweetums).







Doesn’t having animals turn you into such a goofball? My husband, who is usually very “cool” even sings Max a song:

“Wigglesworth,
Wigglesworth,
the best damn Wiggles on planet earth.”


Silly, silly, silly.

Enough rambling – gotta get some work done.

Have a fabulous weekend blog friends.

xoxoxo, R.-

Thursday, December 01, 2005

C1W11D4

Busy day today, so can’t post much detail…

Today was supposed to be my lower body workout, but my husband was snoring really loudly last night and I went out to the living room to sleep on the couch. When my alarm went off at 4 AM, my husband turned it off and didn’t wake me so I overslept big time. As I was leaving the house, I grabbed my ipod instead of my workout journal and didn’t realize my mistake until I got to the gym. I need my journal to know what weights to do, so I ended up doing a cardio session instead. I ran on the treadmill alternating between 5.5 and 6.5 mph for thirty-five minutes and tomorrow will be LB day.

I’m feeling even more stressed today – 9 full days late for TOM. I think my stressing about it is causing the delay as I really don’t think it’s possible that something “slipped by”…

Meals:
M1 – cottage cheese, banana
M2 – turkey breast on whole wheat
M3 – roasted turkey breast, broccoli, green salad
M4 – apple, string cheese
M5 – tuna fish, green salad
One gallon of water.